DWI felon's mom had troubling prediction

By Craig Kapitan :
April 19, 2013
: Updated: April 19, 2013 10:32pm

Christopher Lamar was “frozen” in the mentality of a 16-year-old after his first wreck, his mom said.

Photo By SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Witness Veronica Riffle points to defendant Christopher Hughes Lamar Tuesday April 16, 2013 in the 290th State District Court at the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center. Lamar was allegedly drunk March 22, 2012 when he crashed his vehicle into a stalled car on Interstate 10 near the Fresno exit, killing Jessica Rodriguez,28, and her daughter Kaylee Flores,10. Because Lamar had two prior DWIs, prosecutors are using a new method by charging him with felony murder. Lamar has pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter but he has not pleaded guilty to the murder charge.

Photo By SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

This photo is a state's exhibit in the murder trial of Christopher Hughes Lamar in the 290th State District Court at the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center. The photo shows the car Lamar hit when allegedly driving drunk March 22, 2012 on Interstate 10 near the Fresno exit, killing Jessica Rodriguez,28, and her daughter Kaylee Flores,10. Because Lamar had two prior DWIs, prosecutors are using a new method by charging him with felony murder. Lamar has pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter but he has not pleaded guilty to the murder charge.

Photo By SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Defendant Christopher Hughes Lamar (center) confers with attorney Eddie Bravenec (left) Tuesday April 16, 2013 in the 290th State District Court at the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center. Lamar was allegedly drunk March 22, 2012 when he crashed his vehicle into a stalled car on Interstate 10 near the Fresno exit, killing Jessica Rodriguez,28, and her daughter Kaylee Flores,10. Because Lamar had two prior DWIs, prosecutors are using a new method by charging him with felony murder. Lamar has pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter but he has not pleaded guilty to the murder charge.

Photo By SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Defendant Christopher Hughes Lamar (center) confers with attorney Louis Martinez (right, facing away) Tuesday April 16, 2013 in the 290th State District Court at the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center. Lamar was allegedly drunk March 22, 2012 when he crashed his vehicle into a stalled car on Interstate 10 near the Fresno exit, killing Jessica Rodriguez,28, and her daughter Kaylee Flores,10. Because Lamar had two prior DWIs, prosecutors are using a new method by charging him with felony murder. Lamar has pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter but he has not pleaded guilty to the murder charge.

Long before alcoholic Christopher Hughes Lamar caused the deaths of a fourth-grader and her mother on a San Antonio freeway last year, his own parent had predicted the devastating wreck.

“I felt in my heart ... something very bad was going to happen,” teacher Linda Lamar told jurors Friday during the punishment phase of her son's double murder trial. “I told Chris that he was either going to maim or kill somebody if he didn't stop drinking and driving.”

Christopher Lamar, 27, on Thursday became the first person in Bexar County to be convicted of felony murder instead of intoxication manslaughter because of his previous driving while intoxicated offenses.

Jurors in the 290th state District Court are expected to begin deliberating his punishment, which could range from five years to life in prison, Monday morning. The defendant's mother described him as someone who was “frozen” in the mentality of a 16-year-old — his age at the time of his first devastating alcohol-related wreck. As a result of that one-car crash, he died twice and eventually awoke from a coma with brain injuries he never fully recovered from, friends and family testified.

“He was in horrible shape,” Linda Lamar said. “He could not walk, talk, read, write. He was basically an animal.”

About a year later, he started drinking — much like his alcoholic father — to cope, she said.

Linda Lamar has refused to raise bail for her son since the March 2012 deaths of 10-year-old Kaylee Flores and her mother, Jessica Rodriguez, who died about 30 minutes into her 28th birthday.

“He's tried to commit suicide in (jail) — he's been about killed (by fellow inmates) over this,” she said, explaining that they both agree he needs to be held accountable. “He says, 'I can't live with myself for what I've done. I deserve it if they kill me here.'”

Dolores Flores and Norma Gil went immediately to Rodriguez's and their granddaughter's shared grave after the guilty verdict was announced.

Charging habitual drunken drivers with felony murder — unintentionally causing a death while committing another felony, such as a third DWI — is a new strategy in Bexar County. One other person has pleaded guilty to the charge: Frances Rosalez Ford, who in October 2010 drove the wrong way on U.S. 281, causing a head-on collision.

Coincidentally, Ford was also scheduled to be sentenced Friday in a separate courtroom. She instead asked visiting Judge Dick Alcala to rescind her plea. The judge complied.